ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we established that environmental targets imply social choices. Before we can fully appreciate the importance of a theory of metabolism which considers the role of human choices in transforming the environment, we need to understand the processes through which globaI political economy is itself being transformed. The industrialisation project, which has come to characterise the experience of the developed countries, has undergone profound changes since 1970. Increasingly the 'limits' placed on economic growth are not only those of resource-scarcity but of 'plenty', particularly in the form of hidden 'externalities' - air pollution, declining water quality, vulnerable ecosystems - which threaten to undermine the very economic systems from which they are derived. Although these changes often reflect material advances in the standard of living, they are, in turn, serving to undermine the quality of life. This chapter examines the relationship between the evolution of an industrial model based on hydrocarbons, which has itself fuelled increased global consumption, and the environmental costs of this model.
